Richard Whitehead, the double leg amputee who sparked wild celebration as he stormed to victory in the T42 200m, has a tattoo on his forearm that reads, "Cometh the hour, cometh the man". Rarely has body art seemed more prescient.

The 36-year-old, who lost a legal fight to be allowed to run in the Paralympic marathon before the Games began, fought back tears as he recovered from a terrible start to secure gold on the track in a new world record time. "Today I came and saw and conquered. That's why I gave the two-gun salute at the end," he said, referring to his biceps-flexing victory gesture.

Loudly acclaimed by the 65,000 crowd inside the Olympic Stadium and no doubt those watching on television, his victory will go down alongside those of Mo Farah, Sir Chris Hoy and the rest in the annals of a remarkable British sporting summer. After the race, he said that he had aimed to show that Olympic and Paralympic athletes were on "the same level".

If the roar and chanting of the crowd, the reaction on social networks and the level of interest in his remarkable victory were any guide, he can consider it mission accomplished.

Whitehead, who was barred from competing in the marathon because the International Paralympic Committee said he couldn't race against arm amputees, powered to victory with a stunning second half of the race as he stormed through the field with his prosthetic legs swinging from one side to the other.

Having slipped at the start – he was the only competitor to begin the race from a standing position, with the others crouching in the blocks – he went on to beat his own world record, during a race in which all nine runners recorded personal bests.

Whitehead said victory was payback for his "amazing team" and paid tribute to a late friend who had helped inspire him.

"That wasn't for me, that wasn't for Richard Whitehead, it was for everyone who has supported me. I was fighting back tears towards the end and I had to take a couple of minutes to pull myself together," he said. "There are so many people wanting you to win so it's a big weight to carry on your shoulders, but I've got broad shoulders so I can bear the weight."

The roars as he crossed the line showing off his biceps were the equal of those for Ennis and Farah three weeks earlier; even though he was competing in a morning session, the stadium was again packed to the rafters.

After he had completed an emotional lap of honour to the now familiar strains of David Bowie's Heroes, he said he wanted to win gold in tribute to his friend Simon Mellows, who died in 2005.

"The race didn't really go as expected; we were obviously pulled back, then I got off to a terrible start – I slipped – but I know my start isn't quick and I run with what inspires me and I did that for my friend Simon Mellows."

It was Mellows who had helped inspire his love of sport when they played cricket together. He died after contracting a secondary cancer, leaving behind his wife and two daughters.

They were in the stadium yesterday, as was Whitehead's pregnant fiancee, to see him secure an extraordinary victory that, along with Hannah Cockcroft's gold medal, seems to have lifted interest in these Games to another level.

"Each challenge I am faced with, I know he's there, looking down on me, kicking my butt whenever I need it," Whitehead has said of Mellows.

In a packed Olympic Park yesterday, Whitehead's run was the talk of the crowds thronging into venues to watch sports many had never considered before they secured tickets, like goalball or wheelchair tennis.

Barred from competing in the marathon in London because there is no category for leg amputees, Whitehead targeted the sprints instead in a category for amputees or those with a moderate impairment in one leg.

The IPC refused him permission to race in the marathon against upper body amputees because it would confuse spectators and other athletes said it could be dangerous. An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was thrown out.

Even after winning gold in the 200m and embarking on a lap of honour to a huge reception, Whitehead was already targeting his 100m race and the possibility of competing in the Paralympic marathon in four years' time.

"It's about having the opportunity to wear the GB vest. Hopefully the IPC will see sport as inclusive and not exclusive and let me run the marathon in Rio," said Whitehead, who also represented Britain at the 2006 Turin Paralympic Winter Games in sledge hockey.

Whitehead, a congenital double above-the-leg amputee, was inspired to take up sport at the age of 11 by watching a documentary about Terry Fox, a Canadian amputee who embarked on a run across his country to raise money for cancer research.

Having been encouraged by his parents to play a range of sports from gymnastics to cricket as a child, Whitehead took up marathon running in 2004 by entering the New York event.

Training at night so as not to attract attention, he pushed himself through the pain barrier and received his first pair of carbon fibre running legs just 13 days before the race, which he eventually finished in just over five hours.

On his return, he teamed up with British long distance runner Liz Yelling – a former training partner of Paula Radcliffe who competed in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics – and his times improved. He ran his first sub-three-hour marathon in 2009.

Whitehead has since completed 24 marathons, with his best time a remarkable 2hr 42min 54sec, but he was forced to turn to sprinting if he wanted to compete in London. Having done so, he smashed the record for the 200m T42 at the European Championships in July.

The former swimming coach and county school sports co-ordinator said that another part of his motivation had been to show that, given that they all devote years of single-minded training to their sport, Paralympians and Olympians should be considered on a par with one another.

"I wanted to show that Olympic and Paralympic athletes are on the same platform now," he said. "We all perform to our highest ability and both Paralympic and Olympic athletes are inspiring a generation and leaving a legacy for years to come.

"For me that race was not for Richard Whitehead or for anybody else, but the nation. I'm very patriotic – that was for Great Britain."